About two months ago, I wrote and produced a song called “Let it Burn”. The first version was as atrocious as the heartbreak that inspired the song. I produced about 10 marginally better versions until I got something I was relatively happy with.

Except I was not entirely satisfied. I listen to the song almost daily during my commute to work. (Yes, I listen to my own music . . . don’t judge me – all songwriters do it :))

This new version is the fruit of the 2 months of singing in my car to my own song in an effort to re-think it and produce something a bit new.

It’s by far the most technically advanced song I’ve ever produced. As always, it was done entirely with GarageBand for the iPad. It consists of about 40 vocal, music and percussion tracks.

I’d like to give a special “thank you” to three individuals:

1) “Eric” for inspiring this song.

2) Mahesh – a very talented songwriter who suggested adding the higher-range vocals at 4:04 . I absolutely did not think I could do it. It’s far out of my range. It took me 2 months to work up the courage to try, but I think I pulled it off.

3) My Mom – for being my most loyal listener (she listens to 10 versions of every song I produce). She gives excellent feedback. For this track, she suggested actually changing the beat after I say “beat” (4:39). She also thought it should be extended even longer than the 5 minute version I sent her. She was right on both counts and it’s a much more enjoyable song now. Stretching it longer makes it a proper song to actually groove to — and it allowed me to play around more with my own vocals, which I thoroughly enjoyed.